Puppy Holiday (named after Jazz crooner Billie) are ideas for for Puppy 1.0.3 and beyond

Built in IRC/Jabber
IRC can be built in with a URL link to a cgi script or to the flash forum
or using Gaim. The button would be on the puppy desktop

Settings on secure server
A new wizard to save names and configuration on line - security server needed - downloaded using pupget and put in / usr - then saved avery 30 minutes or when leaving Puppy
it could then be kept moving - which brings us to P2P

Perhaps if I eloborate . . .

with a little tail from Puppy
Future Puppy . . . (does not apply to all dimensions)

A lot of Pups are now using embedded pup devices but some legacy equipment means those without "choose your environment" OS hardware have to use Puppy Standard to boot up with (gosh remember the days when we had to boot up - before Puppy was in hardware?)
When booting up it is easy enough to "Personalize"

For historical reasons it might be interesting to note how Puppy personalizes
through web2:

The earlist method was through password protected secure servers with the important settings being downloaded added to the local pup001 and rebooted.

To be continued?

P2P is the future
using Bittorrent for chat (an idea from Flash)
Puppy must be able to update in real time (this is way down the line)
but jabber is probably better for this - non server chat (jabber is server based)
You could use Puppy standalone on any machine - if you change machines you could download your config and upload when and if you wanted - people choose where and how to use their config file

Support for Open source embedded devices such as phones as they emerge

I have to admit that it took me a minute, Lobster, to really grok what you were saying...

You mean that each user should have a personalized configuration file, stored on a secure server on the 'net, so that whenever they boot puppy, from ANY computer, they can download their personal config and have all of thier personal information and installed programs set up exactly as they like on any machine? Brilliant, I say!

Your post also brings up another interesting question about the future of puppy linux...namely, where is puppy going? Is puppy adhering to the mission statement? Would we like to see puppy running most of the world's personal computers? (Now THAT is a loaded question!)

Looking back over the mission statement on the homepage, I have to say that Barry is doing a great job at reaching those goals. The most difficult to reach is the last one "Puppy will just work, no hassles". I have found that on most of the comptuers I've tried, puppy does Just Work(tm), and that's really extraordinary. Now, when it doesn't work, particularly when you've got some esoteric hardware, it's a royal PITA, and as I'm finding right now with pcmcia wireless on my girlfriend's computer, it can be enormously frustrating. But a lot of talented people are here trying to increase hardware recognition and ease of setup, so what more can we do?

The other item on the mission statement that I think we should look at is "Puppy will be extremely friendly for Linux newbies." In general, yes. If you've got a broadband internet connection, it's easy to get going with the most fundamental tasks in puppy...web browsing, email...but there are truckloads of applications on the start menu with terribly cryptic names, and quite a few redundant programs. (How many other useful, *different* apps would fit under the 60MB limit if we cut out some of the redundancy?) Maybe the start menu should be broken up into "commonly used applications" and "advanced apps" or something like that. I just feel that the average user (i.e. Windows refugees) needs a bit more padding when leaping into the linux world. I realized this when my girlfriend was looking at puppy this weekend...

It might be an interesting (and wise) experiment, if the "extremely friendly" goal is to be pursued, to set up puppy boxes in front of our friends who have only ever seen windows, and see what they can and cannot figure out. Now, I'm not implying that puppy should become a windows clone--not at all! But the goal of friendliness to windows users will have to be explored somehow, and I'm thinking that a group of folks who play with this OS every day and who must have some tech savvy or we wouldn't even be here, are not the right people to define what is "friendly" to the average user. For example, I've got puppy set up to use the dialup connection on my parents' computer, but I'm sure they'd never be able to figure out how to dial out. Fire up GTK dial? Somehow I don't think that would EVER occur to my father.

I hope this doesn't sound like a rant against puppy. When it comes time to buy Barry drinks at the local pub, I'll be first in line. Puppy is really an extraordinarly piece of work, and I am in awe of those who work to expand and improve it. But I think the user friendliness aspect of puppy could use a little polish here and there. I think I'll start a forum thread, asking the newbs for their input.

I have to admit that it took me a minute, Lobster, to really grok what you were saying...

You mean that each user should have a personalized configuration file, stored on a secure server on the 'net, so that whenever they boot puppy, from ANY computer, they can download their personal config and have all of thier personal information and installed programs set up exactly as they like on any machine? Brilliant, I say!

It would be fun. Puppy with a CD/RW carries its own data and configuration but sometimes only a CD enabled computer is available but perhaps with a connection to the internet . . .

Such a file would contain (to start with) most importantly Bookmarks - it is possible that mozilla already has such a service or it could be writtent in XUL

I've just started a new thread on this forum with a plan I have for keeping hardware configuration settings on a per machine basis so my USB puppy can be used anywhere and can be tuned to the hardware I'm running (monitor resolutions etc)

This isn't really the same idea as Lobster is expressing, but it's possibly a quicker win.

Also I'm paranoid enough not to want any of my files to be on a server somewhere, I'm happier if they're in my pocket

Joined: 10 May 2005Posts: 397Location: Running down a highway in Virginia, USA.

Posted: Sun 22 May 2005, 09:37 Post subject:

Please don't jump on to the P2P option too quickly. Most people don't understand what happens when they install the software. Some programs share the entire hard drive by default. Even if the settings can be changed to limit remote access, most people don't know where to find or set them up. This has been a big problem with unauthorized P2P software being used in the corporate environment where company secrets found on the Internet were tracked back to one P2P program or another.

Keep in mind that Puppy runs as root anyway, at least when it's run as a live CD. A computer systems administrator who allows a computer connected to his network to boot from anything but the network administrator's server has a gaping hole in his security. Stealing secrets with P2P is the least of his concerns.

it's easy to run specific programs as a user ... Puppy has user spot all set up ... just su spot and run the app

i got X and Icewm to run as spot ... worked pretty good ... only real problem i had was rxvt wouldn't run ... if anyone knows how to get rxvt to work when running X as spot, please post the answer ... i tried a few things, but they didn't work

it might be that if Puppy actually booted as spot, rxvt would work anyway

there are problems running X as spot ... your access to my-documents and my-applications and /etc and to mounted drives is severely limited (for example, /etc/windowmanager should probably be $HOME/.windowmanager)

when i make a dotpup, i often use /root in a path and think to myself that this could cause trouble later on ... that i should use $HOME/ instead of /root/

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